CRISIS
RELOCATION PLANNING (CRP):United States.1974-1981.A component of the Nuclear
Civil Protection program.Crisis
Relocation Planning envisioned the relocation of people from some or all of
approximately 400 risk areas in the United States at the request of the
President to State Governors during a gradual buildup of international
tensions.Federal Emergency Management
Agency information suggested in 1981 that Crisis Relocation would save 80-85
million lives in a nuclear war; in conjunction with Community Shelter Planning,
Crisis Relocation Planning offered the potential for survival of 80 percent of
the United States population.

(1)Government would ensure the provision of
essential resources and services, including the commercial provision of food,
fuel, and communications.

(2)Spontaneous evacuations from high risk areas
would occur prior to implementation of crisis relocation.Many of these evacuees would have the
resources needed to be self-sufficient, including housing with friends or
relatives or in vacation homes.

(3)Relocation would be for a minimum of 7 days,
with a probable maximum period of 14 days.

(4)Residents of host areas would be encouraged,
but not compelled, to accommodate evacuees in their homes.The expectation, based on past experience in
natural disasters, was that a reasonable number of people could be housed in
this way.

(5)Evacuees were expected to bring key supplies
with them, including food, tools, and other similar resources.The evacuee population was expected to
provide able-bodied workers to build expedient shelters for fallout protection.

(6)The economy would be maintained in its
pre-crisis state to as great a degree as possible, and businesses and
institutions would be protected.The
short term duration of relocation would not allow time for introduction of
formal economic controls such as rationing, although local measures might be
required in individual jurisdictions.However, measures would be implemented to ensure that financial need
would not deny anyone basic necessities.

(7)Essential activities and services would
continue in the risk areas after crisis relocation.Essential personnel would be expected to commute to the risk area
from the closest host areas.

Planning
efforts included the gathering of extensive data on the risk and host
areas.Examples of data cited were:

(1)Transportation – how many people could use
private automobiles and how many would require public transportation for
evacuation?

(2)Medical care – what were the normal patient
bed counts in hospitals, how many doctors of what specialties were available in
the area, and how many patients were on life support machines?

(3)Local news media – how would these
disseminate official survival information by television, radio, or print media?

(4)Earth moving equipment – what equipment was
available to move earth for shielding of structures suitable for use as
shelters?

(5)Congregate care facilities – what was the
space, meal preparation, sanitary, and potable water capacity of schools,
churches, and other facilities where evacuees could be temporarily housed?